Enron joins the Mickey Mouse league

AT 25 cents a go, Enron shares are hardly worth the paper they are printed on - except, that is, as a collectible item for 'investors' who want to own a lasting memento of the greatest corporate business disaster of the decade.

Frameastock.com, a Florida-based online gift service that buys shares certificates and frames them as gifts, says it has been deluged with requests for Enron paper since the US energy trading firm failed, instantly becoming a global byword for financial excess.

For $40 (£28.20), Frameastock will purchase an Enron share in your name and display it in a sleek black lacquer or traditional wood frame. 'It's a novelty gift, an actual share printed in your name, giving you shareholders' rights, for whatever that is worth in Enron's case,' said Frameastock's Tim Stockton.

Enron's shares are second only in popularity to Frameastock's traditional top seller, Disney, which has colourful certificates with Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Walt Disney himself in the background. Enron certificates are off-white, illustrated with a globe, an oil derrick and the infamous 'crooked E', its now world-renowned trademark.

The bankrupt company's shares can be purchased through a broker for a fraction of what Frameastock charges, but Stockton said his customers understand they have to pay more for a certificate suitable for framing. 'You wouldn't believe the hoops and hurdles we go through to get an unfolded share,' he said.